It’s funny! Doha Debates says women are superior Tuesday, 25 May 2010 03:14

DOHA: A hilarious yet thought provoking session of the Doha Debates, held yesterday passed with a vast majority a motion that said that women are superior to men. The special debate featured four renowned comedians who waded into the age-old rivalries between the sexes.

With a majority of 67 percent supporting the motion, women were proclaimed superior to men.

Things like physical appearance, food, dress, high-heels, beard, hair and even labour pain were debated humourously at the session, which made it different from the previous ones that discussed serious political, religious and international issues.

Voicing his support for the motion, Azhar Usman, co-founder of the “Allah made me Funny – Official Muslim Comedy Tour”, opened the debate.

“Men spend much time trying to look good and yet look disgusting,” he said. “Men are physically strong… but they have used it to spread evil; war, crime, abuse of natural resources and lately the financial crisis. Moreover, there are stereotyping. For example, people say Muslim men are terrorists and their women are oppressed. If they ever dare investigate this, they would discover just the opposite. Muslim men are oppressed and their women are terrorists…. It is inevitable for a man married as long as me to say women are superior.”

Countering Usman, Carrie Quinlan, a British actress, writer and comedian brought in the issue of beard saying: “One of the easiest things in the world is to grow a beard for which one just doesn’t have to do any thing. Yet women can’t even get that right.” “Women can bring in men and kill them too,” said Maysoon Zayid, an actress and professional standup comedian, speaking for the motion. “No one except women can nag a man to death. We just trick men to believe that we cannot do many menial jobs so that you can do it for us. Think of man with a tooth ache and a women going through labour pain. Most men can’t even go into the delivery room to stay with the wife during delivery.”

Leaving the audience agape, Zayid said: “The reason why a woman prefers to have a female by her side is that we are always ready. She can remove her slippers even before a man takes out his pistol. I suffer from cerebral palsy and yet walk in heels, can you do that,” she challenged the men.

Taking example from marriage she said that a man in the West has to beg on his knees for a girl to marry him and in this region, they have to pay women to marry them. She added: “There is no more strong and frightening woman as a mother-in-law. She can cook better, treat better, run faster and kill you if needed.”

Blaming all major catastrophes on women, Robin Ince, who has written for many of the BBC’s comedy shows stood against the motion. “Men have always done the worst acts for women. The Trojan War was fought for a beautiful woman. The Black Death that left millions of people in Europe death was due to the women, who just wanted more spices and sent their men to see which at the end led to the tragedy… We need to check the quality of world leaders ever since women got voting rights to know their judgement. Global obesity, disease, climate change are all due to them,” he said.

The discussion that followed was marked by lively interventions by members of the audience. They brought in issues as how women can withstand pain during waxing, mothers spoiling their boys to think they are superior and why hospitals are full of women and morgues are full of men.

“Women look gorgeous in men’s attire, but men look repulsive in women’s dresses,” said a Qatari student triggering loud applause from the gathering.

The Peninsula

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